Forty Days
by YouFoundMeBL
Summary: Brooke and Lucas Scott's marriage is coming to an end. Can Lucas save their marriage in forty days?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **_Forty Days_

**Storyline: **_Brooke and Lucas Scott have been married for almost three years. They got married straight out of college and had the perfect relationship for the first year of marriage, but the second year and so on has been a nightmare. Both Lucas and Brooke are busy with their jobs. Lucas who is trying to write a new novel and Brooke whose fashion line has just jump started. When they aren't busy with work though all they do is fight and now all of the fighting has finally led to a breaking point for the both of them. But can they find a way to save their marriage?_

**Author's Note: **_I got the idea for this story from a movie I was watching called Fireproof. I wasn't really into the movie but I liked the plot of it but this story is going to be nothing like the movie except for one part. The characters are pretty much the same personalities. They still have the same high school background. Brooke and Lucas just never broke up at the beginning of season four. But they moved to New York after they graduated from college._

Chapter One

For Brooke Scott, every day lately felt like a roller coaster that just wouldn't end. From the moment she would wake up in the morning she would be completely swamped with work.

Brooke had spent the last three years trying to make her small company a household name and now all of the hard work she had put into it had finally paid off.

The company started booming within the past year. Her clothing line was now being sold in stores all around the country. This had been a dream of Brooke's since she was in high school and now the dream was a reality.

Brooke use to fantasize about one day having a big fashion line and making loads of money. It all seemed so glamorous when she only use to dream about it. Now that she finally had it though it was nothing like she had imagined it to be.

All of her time was devoted to work. When she wasn't working on new designs, she was at home doing all of the cleaning around the house. You would think that if your husband worked from home then he could at least help out a little around the house. Most husbands would actually, her husband even use to. Not anymore though, the only thing Lucas Scott cared about doing at the moment was working on his next novel.

Lucas Scott.

Lucas sold his first novel at the age of twenty-one. It was a hit and sold thousands of copies.

That was three years ago though. Now he has completely hit a point of writers block. Every story idea that he comes up with just doesn't seem to be good enough. He can't even remember how many times he has spent days just staring at the blank screen on his laptop.

His goal is to have is second novel out within the next year but from the looks of things it doesn't even seem like he will have an idea within the next year.

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Brooke clicked on her Blackberry to check the time. It was nearly midnight and she was just now on the elevator that led to her and Lucas's high-rise New York apartment.

The elevator got to the floor that they lived on and Brooke stepped off of the elevator and pulled out her key to the apartment.

Once she stepped into the apartment she looked around the living room where Lucas had papers and drink cans all over the coffee table. Brooke let out a small grunt with an eye roll. He would always make a mess and she would end up cleaning it when she got home.

She had no intention on cleaning up his mess this time though. The night before she was up nearly two hours after work cleaning up and didn't plan on doing that two nights in a row.

Brooke sat down on the couch long enough to take off her heels and set them to the side. She then got back up and went into her and Lucas's room where he was typing away on his laptop.

Brooke crossed her arms and just stared at him. Lucas felt her eyes on him and stopped typing and looked up for a brief moment "Hey…" he said and then went straight back to typing.

Brooke let out a huge sigh "The living room is a mess Lucas. Is it really that hard for you to pick up after yourself? I'm tired of cleaning up your mess after working all day!"

Lucas rolled his eyes while saving his work on his laptop. He shut the laptop hard and stared over towards her "Do you have to start on me every time you walk through the damn door? You can't even say hello without bitching at me in the process."

Brooke laughed sarcastically and shook her head "Well excuse me for not wanting to clean up the house every single night after for working almost 15 hours every day"

Lucas gritted his teeth "Oh and I guess you are going to start on me again about how what I'm doing every single day isn't working?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulders "Well is it really? I mean come on Lucas you've barely left this house in over a year. All you do is try and write that damn book but never have anything to show for it!"

"Will you step off this high horse that you are on? Ever since your line has become more known you act like you are the only one supporting us but if I remember correctly it was my money from the first book that even got your business going!" said Lucas with his voice raising.

"Really? How would I know that?" she replied sarcastically "I mean you only remind me of this every day!"

"You know what…" he reached over and grabbed his laptop off the bed "I'm not doing this right now" he said as he started out of the room.

Brooke turned around to face him "you know you might as well move into that damn guest room, you stay in there every night anyways" she said angrily.

Lucas turned around in the doorway and glared towards her "maybe I ought to just move out of this apartment" he said as cold as possible.

Brooke swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat "You know what that's not a bad idea" she said in the same cold voice that he had.

"Yeah…" he mumbled as he started to walk off.

As soon as Lucas started walking towards the guest room, Brooke called out to him "Lucas?" she said calmly.

Lucas froze in the hallway but didn't turn around "What?" he asked emotionless.

"I want a divorce…" she said in the most bitter voice Lucas had ever heard come from Brooke's mouth. As soon as the words came out of her mouth she slammed the door to the bedroom as hard as possible.

Lucas stood there frozen. She wants a divorce? He knew their marriage had been rough lately and they hardly ever spoke but he didn't know it had gotten that bad.

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"It's over Nate…" said Lucas as he sighed deeply into the phone.

After Brooke had told Lucas that she wanted a divorce he went straight to the guest room and just laid there for awhile until Nathan called.

"And you're okay with that?" asked Nathan who seemed totally confused "it's not like you to give up Luke, especially not on Brooke."

Lucas shook his head and laid back onto the bed with the phone "Honestly man, I think our marriage has been over. Neither one of us just wanted to admit it. It's for the best…" he said unsure his own self.

"You don't mean that. You and Brooke love each other. You can't just throw that many years away." said Nathan who was trying his best to encourage him "come on you remember last year when Haley and I were having all of those problems. I thought it was over then for sure but we got through them. And I love her even more now."

"We aren't you and Haley" replied Lucas in a firm voice "just drop it Nathan…"

"I can't do that man. I can't watch you and Brooke make the biggest mistake our your lives." he said before getting quiet a minute. After a few moments of not speaking, Nathan finally spoke up again "can you do one thing for me?"

Lucas sighed slightly annoyed "what's that?"

"When Haley and I were on the verge of a divorce, I knew it was all my fault. I was too focused on basketball and shutting myself out completely from her. I still loved her and I knew I had to do something to prove that to her. So I made a commitment to myself that I would try forty straight days to win her back and if it didn't work then I would give up…" he stopped a minute then continued "before I started though I sat down and wrote a task to complete for every day of those forty days. Something that would prove to her that I still loved her ---"

Lucas cut Nathan off with a laugh "wait…you actually spent time writing?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and smirked through the phone "I know…it's more of something you would do" he laughed lightly "anyways every day with something different to help save my marriage. It sounds stupid and cheesy but it worked for me. I think it could work for you to. I still have the notebook where I wrote down everything. I could send it to you and you ---"

Lucas cut Nathan off once more "Look Nate, I'm happy that little forty day thing worked for you but it wouldn't for me. My relationship with Brooke is far from over. I appreciate you trying to help but I don't want your help."

Nathan sighed through the phone "Do you still love her?"

Lucas paused for a minute "of course I do" he replied quietly.

"Then just try it out. You can stop if you don't feel like it's going anywhere. What's it going to hurt to try?" asked Nathan.

Lucas let out a sigh and after a minute replied "fine…I'll try it out."

Nathan smiled to himself "good…I'll mail the notebook I wrote the stuff in tomorrow." he glanced over at the time "it's really late though, I'm gonna get some rest."

"Alright", replied Lucas "thanks Nathan" he said as he switched off the phone.

Lucas ran his hands through his hair. Nathan's whole idea seemed like a complete waste. He knew it was near impossible to fix what was broken between himself and Brooke. No stupid plan of Nathan's was ever going to work. He knew if he wouldn't have agreed though that Nathan would've gone on the rest of the night until he did.

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A few days had passed and Lucas hadn't spoken to Brooke since that night. He had no idea if she was still wanting a divorce and frankly he was too afraid to ask.

Lucas hadn't seen much of Brooke either. Other than passing each other in the apartment that was about it.

Now Lucas was sitting on the couch opening the box that Nathan had sent him. He reached and grabbed the small Notebook that was in it. There was a letter taped to it from Nathan that said:

_Lucas,_

_I hope this works for you like it did for me. Good luck bro…_

_- Nathan_

Lucas put the note to the side and opened the notebook and started reading…

_Day One…._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_Day One:_

_The main reason your marriage is ending is because of all of the bickering. So today and from every day on…no arguing. Do everything possible to control yourself from arguing with her, even if she is trying to argue with you._

Lucas closed the notebook and tossed it into the dresser drawer in the guest room. Today would only be day one of this whole plan that Nathan devised and day one already seemed impossible.

No arguing? That would probably be nearly impossible. Especially since it was Sunday and on Sunday's Brooke would work from home.

Lucas started out of the guest room and headed into the kitchen. He saw Brooke over at the kitchen counter sketching away at some designs that she was working on.

He opened the fridge to get the milk out and grabbed the cereal from the top and started making himself a bowl.

"Make sure to wash that bowl when you are done with it…" he heard Brooke utter not even looking up from her sketches.

Lucas glanced over towards her then sat across from her and started eating "So you're talking now?"

Brooke shrugged then glanced up quickly then back down "No, I still have nothing to say to you. I just don't want to spend my day off cleaning up after your lazy ass" she threw at him.

Lucas bit his lip hard to stop himself from shooting a smart remark back at her "well you won't have to…I'll make sure to clean it up" he said instead.

Brooke looked over at him "Good…" she replied a little confused. She had expected him to start a fight with her about it.

Lucas was quiet a minute then stopped eating and looked over towards her "were you serious about a divorce the other night?"

Brooke froze and put what she was working on to the side and then nodded slowly "Yeah I was…" she sighed and closed her eyes "it's just not working anymore, it hasn't been for a long time…I think you know that too"

"I know we have problems Brooke…" he said slowly "but not any part of you wants to make things work?"

Brooke just stared at him for a minute before shaking her head and getting up "No…I don't care anymore. Look I'll get the papers when I have a chance." she said sadly before walking into her bedroom and shutting herself away.

Lucas watched her walk away and sat there quietly thinking to himself. If Brooke didn't want their marriage to work then what was the point of even trying? 

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_Day Two_

_The object for today is to show her that you still care. So do something small just to show her that you were thinking of her._

The night before Lucas had decided that he was just going to give up on this whole thing and call it quits but when he woke up this morning he suddenly felt the need to not give up.

So now here he was reading the task for the second day. He should be busy writing away on his book but he knows at this very moment he couldn't concentrate for anything.

Lucas glanced over at the time and saw it was nearly noon. He grabbed his jacket and keys and headed out the door to catch a cab.

Once he caught a cab he headed over to Brooke's favorite Chinese restaurant to pick up lunch for her. That would be a nice enough gesture, he thought to himself.

After getting the food he caught a cab back to Brooke's office. When he arrived at Brooke's office he saw her assistant, Millicent, at the front desk and offered her a small smile "Hey Millie…is Brooke in her office?"

Millicent looked up shocked to see that Lucas was there, especially after hearing from Brooke what was going on between them, "Lucas…haven't seen you around here in awhile" she stuttered a little "um yeah…Brooke just got out of her meeting."

"Thanks…it was good seeing you" he said as he offered her a small smile before heading towards Brooke's office. Once he got to the door he knocked on it lightly before opening it "can I come in?"

Brooke's head shot up from her computer screen when she heard Lucas's voice "what are you doing here?"

Lucas held up the bag that had her food in it "I brought you lunch" he said as he forced a smile and walked over to her desk to set it down.

Brooke just stared at him confused "Why did you do that?"

Lucas shrugged lightly and stared down at her "I just figured you probably hadn't had a chance for a lunch break so I thought you might be hungry."

"I meant…well you never bring me lunch. Why now?" she asked him still confused with his intentions.

"No reason" he said with a light shrug "listen I should probably go but…I'll see you at home?"

Brooke just nodded slowly "Yeah…" she replied softly "thanks"

"No problem" he turned and walked out of the door.

As soon as Lucas left Brooke's office, Millicent came in "what's up with him?" she asked Brooke.

Brooke just shook her head "I have no idea…"

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_**Sorry this chapter was so short. I promise that the other ones will be a lot longer. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please keep them coming. I would love to hear what you think!**_


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